Category Archives: iCloud
Daily Update for January 24, 2013
It’s the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You’ll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what’s happening in the Apple world.
You can listen to today’s Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here.
Apple’s iCloud user base breaks 250 million
During yesterday’s Q1 2013 earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned several times that the iCloud storage service now has over 250 million users.
That’s not particularly surprising, since signing up for a free iCloud account is part of the setup process when you purchase any new Apple product. What is surprising is how quickly the service has grown, jumping from 85 million in January of 2012 to triple that number in 2013.
Apple wins Emmy for technology, engineering
Apple was a prominent part of CES even though it didn’t have a physical presence at the trade show. Not only were there a large number of iOS and OS X vendors on the show floor, Apple was also awarded a Technology & Engineering Emmy for its iCloud service.
As reported by The Loop, the Emmy recognizes “an individual, company or to a scientific or technical organization for developments and/or standardization involved in engineering technologies which either represent an extensive improvement on existing methods or are so innovative in nature that they materially have affected the transmission, recording or reception of television.”
Apple launches more detailed online services status page
In the wake of some high-profile outages affecting its iCloud, iMessage and other online services, Apple has rolled out a new design for its system status web page. The new page offers a more detailed report on the current health of 32 different resources, broken down by Services, Stores and iCloud.
In addition to showing the current status of these services, the page features a timeline showing recent outages, with details on which services were specifically affected, how long the outages lasted, and what percent of users were affected. The data in the timeline goes back to December 2011. No services are experiencing issues at present, so it remains to be seen how (or if) Apple will provide details on outages, such as when they’re expected to be resolved, as they occur.
The Wall Street Journal profiles Eddy Cue
With the recent shakeup of Apple’s executive leadership, all eyes are now on Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Software and Services. Cue was known for negotiating deals with media moguls that brought new content into iTunes, but now the 48-year-old executive has taken on the high-profile role as the new overseer of Siri and Maps.
The Wall Street Journal has a lengthy article that sheds some light on Cue and his behind-the-scenes role at Apple. The article gives us a brief insight into Cue’s personality and discusses some of the challenges Cue faces as the man in charge of iTunes, iCloud, Siri and Maps.
